


Thursday's Child

by anthologia



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Adoption, Batfamily Feels, Child Neglect, Crying, Family, Gen, Illnesses, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Insecurity, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nausea, Panic, Reading Aloud, Self-Esteem Issues, Sleepiness, Teddy Bears, Touch-Shyness, Touch-Starved, tiny child riding a giant dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 14:03:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4628028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthologia/pseuds/anthologia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s not the first child with nowhere else to go that Bruce Wayne has taken in. Dick Grayson was the first and the most high-profile – because no one would have thought Bruce Wayne was interested in ever raising a child, let alone the orphaned son of circus performers – but Jason was maybe just as much of a shock to society for being a street kid who came out of seemingly nowhere. Tim Drake is ordinary by comparison – his parents died in a plane accident. He can’t think of anything very special about him except that he met Bruce a few times when his parents hosted parties to keep in touch with Gotham society.</p><p>Or, tiny Tim Drake is adopted by the Waynes a little earlier than scheduled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Content advisory: tiny Tim was raised by people who really should not have been in charge of raising a child, and it shows. Tim clearly does not think like a child with healthy self-esteem etc. should be thinking.

He’s not the first child with nowhere else to go that Bruce Wayne has taken in. Dick Grayson was the first and the most high-profile – because _no_ one would have thought Bruce Wayne was interested in ever raising a child, let alone the orphaned son of circus performers – but Jason was maybe just as much of a shock to society for being a street kid who came out of seemingly nowhere. Tim Drake is ordinary by comparison – his parents died in a plane accident. He can’t think of anything very special about him except that he met Bruce a few times when his parents hosted parties to keep in touch with Gotham society.

Even while they’re heading down the walk to the Wayne Manor’s front door with Ms. Walker, his social worker, at his side and the teddy bear dressed in a Superman cape that he’d been given at the home clutched in his arms for courage, Tim can’t help but wonder if there’s a mistake. Maybe Bruce will open the door and look at him and say _no, this isn’t the kid I wanted_ or _I expected something better_ and send him back to the temporary home he’d been living in. Or, or maybe they won’t open the door at all, just send him home without even looking.

But when the door opens, there’s no disappointment, just a man looking down at him with a kind smile. “Ah, Master Timothy. We’ve been expecting you.”

Ms. Walker guides Tim into the building with a hand on his shoulder. “Mr. Wayne _is_ home?”

“Of course. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, Master Wayne’s butler. I’ll take you to him as soon as you’re ready.” The last part seems to be addressed to Tim, who hugs his Superbear tighter for comfort before suddenly realizing that Mr. Pennyworth probably thought he wouldn’t want to meet his new guardian while clinging to a stuffed animal like a baby. It was stupid and childish and nothing like what his parents would have wanted him to be seen doing. Tim flushes in embarrassment and tucks Superbear into a pocket on one of his pieces of luggage so it’s out of sight.

Mr. Pennyworth leads them through the house to a study where Mr. Wayne is looking over some papers. He looks up with an easy smile. “Tim, Ms. Walker. You didn’t have any trouble getting here?”

“Our trip was fine,” Ms. Walker tells him. “Of course you’re already certified as a foster home, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at Tim’s accommodations.”

“Sure. That’ll give Tim and I some time to get to know each other,” Mr. Wayne says with an over-exaggerated wink in Tim’s direction. “Alfred, would you…?”

“Of course, sir,” Alfred says, and then it’s just Tim and one of the most important men in the city.

Bruce comes out from behind his desk and kneels so his face is more level with Tim’s. “So, Tim. I’m not sure if you remember me, but we’ve met before – “

“I remember,” Tim says quietly.

Bruce beams. “Good, so we don’t have to introduce ourselves. Dick and Jason are outside somewhere with the dog – you’re not scared of dogs, are you?”

Tim blinks. “No, sir.”

“Okay, good. Ace is a mastiff, so he can be a little intimidating, but I can assure you that he’s harmless, and he’s going to love you.”

Tim _wants_ to ask what a mastiff is and why he’d be scared of one, but he’s not sure if Mr. Wayne would want to be interrupted for something that trivial. He keeps his mouth shut.

Something in Mr. Wayne’s face softens. “You know, Tim, I want this to be your home now. I hope you’ll be comfortable here. You don’t have to be scared, okay?”

“Okay,” Tim says, because that’s what Mr. Wayne wants. The word comes out as a whisper.

“Why don’t we see if we can find the boys?” Mr. Wayne stands up and offers his hand for Tim to hold. He retracts it after a few seconds when Tim hesitates, but he’s still smiling, not mad that Tim refused him. “I think they’re outside somewhere. We’ll take the long way around, give you a chance to look around the house.” He starts walking, his steps paced slow so Tim doesn’t have difficulty keeping up.

Tim follows.

 

 

A mastiff, it turns out, is basically a _horse_ , and Tim freezes up when the dog-giant- _thing_ stops playing with Jason and Dick and bounds over to him. He _told_ Mr. Wayne that he wasn’t scared of dogs, so instead of hiding, he holds himself very still while the dog sniffs him.

“Tim, this is Ace. Ace, Tim.” There’s something Tim can’t quite identify in Mr. Wayne’s tone when he speaks, but he thinks is disappointment that Tim’s not as fearless as he’d hoped. Tim tries _really_ hard to relax while the dog finishes looking him over and starts licking his hand. Mr. Wayne raises his voice slightly. “Dick, I asked you to keep ahold of Ace the first time Tim saw him.”

“Sorry, B.” And then _Dick Grayson_ gets his hand on Ace’s collar and is gently tugging him away, and Tim freezes up again because _Dick Grayson_. “I’m sorry, Tim. We didn’t mean to scare you. Ace just really loves meeting new people.” He grins brightly and offers the hand that is not currently occupied holding the mastiff in check. “I’m Dick.”

Tim can feel the words building up in his chest – _I know, we’ve met before, I saw you perform once and you were great, you promised to do your quadruple somersault for me but it’s okay I don’t expect you to remember –_ so he bites the inside of his cheek to keep quiet. It’s _too_ many words, and he doesn’t want to irritate Dick. Belatedly, he realizes that he hasn’t even taken Dick’s hand, so he grabs hold of it and shakes it too quickly.

If Dick is annoyed that Tim’s so bad at basic manners, he doesn’t show it. His smile is still as bright and easy as ever.

Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne’s other adopted son, rounds a corner and comes into view. “Hey, what gives? Dog’s supposed to bring stuff _back_ when you throw it, not build a new home base – oh,” he says, when he sees Tim. “Replacement.”

“ _Jay_ ,” Dick hisses, just loud enough that Tim can hear even though he’s not supposed to.

“Jason, we talked about this,” Bruce says evenly. “Tim’s staying here from now on, so you need to – “

“Say hi, make him feel welcome, blah blah, I read the pamphlets.” Jason rolls his eyes and comes closer. “I was kidding about the replacement thing,” he says, his voice dropped like they’re sharing a secret. “They’ve been freaking out for days about this, it’s hilarious. You’re gonna like it here.” He ruffles Tim’s hair slightly, which is – Tim flinches slightly, mostly out of shock. Jason frowns. “Hey – you know I’m not gonna hurt you, right?”

Tim’s frozen, not sure what he’s supposed to say, until Dick comes to his rescue. “Were you giving him the tour? Can we finish showing him around?”

“You can definitely join us,” Bruce says, and Dick does a little victory fist pump before foisting Ace off on Jason so he can grab hold of Tim’s hand.

“C’mon, Timmy, there’s some _great_ climbing trees you just have to try – “


	2. Chapter 2

The Wayne Manor feels even bigger at night. Everyone’s in bed, so there’s no one left to fill up the rooms. It’s quiet, too, and really dark. Tim doesn’t want to turn on the lights cause he’s not supposed to be out of bed, probably. Mr. Wayne didn’t say it specifically, but it makes sense. Kids are supposed to be in bed when it’s late, not wandering around houses.

But Tim can’t sleep, and he thought that maybe, if he had a book, he could read it to himself until he feels tired. There’s a couple in his room, but they’re for babies. Tim’s not supposed to read stuff for really little kids, even if they have cool stories with magic and stuff, because he’s too old for them. He remembers there’s a library in the house, though, and that might have something for him to read.

He takes Superbear with him, just in case. His parents wouldn’t like that, either, but Ms. Walker told him it’s okay to carry a stuffed animal around with him sometimes. The house is kind of scary when everyone’s asleep, so Tim figures this might be one of those times.

He thinks he’s almost there when suddenly the light to the hallway he’s in flicks on, revealing Mr. Wayne. Tim freezes and panics because – he’s only been here a _day_ , and already he’s going to get in trouble for not being in bed like he’s supposed to be. “I’m sorry,” he blurts out immediately, because maybe Mr. Wayne won’t be so mad if Tim says it right away?

“Sorry for what?” Mr. Wayne asks. “What are you doing out of bed, Tim?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” He tries not to cling to Superbear _too_ much, because he’s too old to think a toy could protect him from an adult being disappointed. It's just fabric and stuffing. “I thought I could get a book and read that until I was sleepy? I’m sorry, I’ll go back to my room.”

“It’s okay, Tim.” Mr. Wayne gets closer fast, with his way-longer-than-Tim’s strides. “But I think Alfred put some books in your room. Why don’t we go back there together and pick out something for you?”

“I’ll just go,” Tim says, shaking his head quickly. Mr. Wayne wouldn’t _really_ want to spend his time helping Tim find a book, especially when Tim’s supposed to be asleep _anyway_. “I’m sorry,” he adds, just for good measure.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Tim.” Mr. Wayne picks Tim up then, and Tim stays still and lets him cause he doesn't want to be difficult. “It’s okay if you can’t sleep, although I’d prefer it if you didn’t go exploring the house in the dark when that happens. Why don’t you try finding me instead if it happens again?”

Tim stays quiet, because he’s not sure what he’s supposed to say to that. Maybe he’s supposed to say okay and then not wake Mr. Wayne up? Then Mr. Wayne wouldn't think he needs help falling asleep.

The walk back to his room seems a lot shorter when he’s being carried by an adult. Once they get to his room, Tim wants to be put down so he can go back to bed like he’s supposed to and Mr. Wayne can leave, but he also kind of doesn’t want to cause Mr. Wayne is really warm and nice. Instead of going straight for the bed, though, Mr. Wayne takes him to the shelf with books and asks which one he'd like to look at.

Tim picks the one that looks the least babyish. Mr. Wayne picks it up and puts Tim on the bed, but then he sits down on the bed, too, and turns to the first page, like he’s going to read it.

“It’s okay, Mr. Wayne,” Tim says quickly. “I don’t need help with the words.”

Mr. Wayne pauses for a second, watching him. “Do you _want_ me to leave, Tim?”

And Tim’s not sure what the right answer to that is, so he stays quiet and fiddles with Superbear’s cape. After they’ve been quiet for a little while, Mr. Wayne says, “Why don’t I start reading it to you, and if you don’t like it, I’ll stop?”

In his experience, adults are usually too busy to do things like this with him, unless it’s their job. And he _knows_ it’s not Mr. Wayne’s job. But he seems to really want to, so Tim says okay.

Mr. Wayne doesn’t look impatient like he wants to get it over with or anything, and he waits for Tim to get settled in bed with Superbear before he starts reading the book. It’s an interesting story, even if it _is_ kind of babyish. There’s a toy rabbit that wants to be real, which is silly – Tim _knows_ toys aren’t alive and can’t think – but he doesn’t point that out. And the boy isn't very careful with his rabbit, either, but no one seems to scold him for it. Before Superbear, Tim had lots of stuffed animals that came with educational books about how the real animals lived. They were kept on a shelf, and he had to ask his nanny or one of the staff to get them down for him when he wanted one. He was always very careful with them, because they were gifts and it’s rude to break gifts or get them dirty.

Still, even if it’s silly and the boy doesn’t play with his toys very well, it’s a good story, and Mr. Wayne’s voice is really nice to listen to. Tim hugs Superbear to his chest and lets the stuffed bunny’s adventures carry him off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

When Mr. Wayne pulls Tim aside after dinner and tells him that he’s going to be very busy for a few days and not as available as usual, Tim _understands_. Mr. Wayne is being nice by not just _saying_ he doesn’t want to see Tim until he’s done, but Tim knows what _I’m busy_ means: keep quiet, stay out of the way, don’t be a bother.

So after breakfast the next morning, Tim does his very best to disappear. The manor is a big place, bigger than his parents’ house. After a little wandering, he finds a small room that looks like no one’s been in it for a while, with a couple pieces of furniture under sheets and things. He’d scavenged a pillow and a blanket from his bedroom, so it’s easy to build a little nest on the floor that he can sit in with Superbear and some books he picked from the library.

It’s an okay day. He thinks it probably would’ve been good enough for him to just stay in his room, but he wants to be _better_ than that so Mr. Wayne will be happy with him. Just sitting and reading is pretty nice for the first few hours, but then he starts to get hungry. He doesn’t have any lunch with him cause he’s not supposed to use the kitchen without someone older to help him, so he mostly tries focus on reading the rest of last book to Superbear instead before curling up for a nap on the blanket.

He wakes up to Ace licking his cheek while Dick stares down at him with a weird look on his face. Tim blinks at them, too sleepy to put thoughts together yet, but that’s okay cause Dick speaks first anyway. “Timmy. What are you doing here? Have you been here all day?”

“Uh-huh.” Tim pats Ace gingerly as the dog noses at Tim’s blanket.

“.. _Why?_ It smells like stale air in here, why would you even – “ Dick shakes his head. “Were you hiding from something? Are you sick?”

“Uh-uh,” he says, feeling more and more lost. “I didn’t want to be in the way.“

“Well, you’re _really_ good at being out of the way, because we’ve all been looking for you for _forever_.”

Dick’s kind of smiling, like it was a joke, but all Tim can feel is a tightness in his chest because _they’d been looking for him._ “Even Mr. Wayne?”

“Well, _yeah_ ,” Dick says, still with that weird-confused look on his face until Tim scrambles upright with wide eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong? _Were_ you hiding from something?”

“I didn’t mean to – I mean, he said he’d be busy so I was going to be out of his way so he could more work done if I wasn’t around to bother him, so I came _here_ and – “

Before he can finish his explaining, Dick pulls him into a hug. “Shhh. You’re not a bother, Tim. We _like_ having you around, you don’t have to hide whenever you think we need you out of the way because that time is gonna be _never_.” He gently tugs Superbear out of Tim’s too-tight grip and tucks the stuffed animal under his arm. “Why don’t we go see Bruce?“

“But – won’t he be mad? Cause he was busy?“ Tim wants to hide his face in Dick’s shoulder instead of waiting for an answer, but he’s too old for stuff like that.

Dick gets that weird look on his face again. “I promise you, Bruce is not going to be mad at you.”

Tim’s legs are stiff and don’t want to work after sitting on the floor for so long, so Dick lets him ride on Ace for a little while until they find Mr. Wayne in one of the sitting rooms with Jason.

“What happened?” Jason demands at almost the same time Mr. Wayne asks “Are you hurt?”, and Tim wants to hide in Ace’s fur so he doesn’t have to admit to them that he was so bad at things that he couldn’t even just _not be a nuisance_ for a single _day_.

Dick pulls Tim off of Ace and sets him down on one of the couches with Superbear before answering. “He’s fine, he was just playing Hide-and-Don’t-Seek.” He sounds mad, even though he _promised_ no one was gonna be mad. Tim hugs Superbear to his chest tightly.

Jason scrunches up his face. “ – What?”

Mr. Wayne just drops down next to the couch so he’s closer to eye-level. “What were you doing, Tim?”

“I just…” Tim feels tears welling up in his eyes. He always tries his hardest not to cry because crying is for babies and Jack and Janet Drake don’t want a baby for a son, but the _one_ thing he _thought_ he knew how to do was stay out of the way. He did so bad at it today that he’d made everyone come looking for him, and he didn’t even know _why_. Now Mr. Wayne is going to be behind on his work, and Jason and Dick are gonna be mad cause Mr. Wayne is going to be too busy for them, too, and what if he has to go on a trip to fix it cause Tim messed everything up?

Dick climbs onto the couch and wraps his arms around him, and Tim turns to him desperately because, he would tell Tim, wouldn’t he? What he did wrong, so he could do better next time? If they still wanted him to stay long enough for there to _be_ a next time. “I’m sorry, I was _trying_ to – I don’t know what I should have done better?”

Mr. Wayne frowns. “What were you trying to do?”

Even with Dick hugging him (and Dick is the _best_ at hugs), Tim still wants to hide. “I just thought – I didn’t want to be a nuisance? Cause you had to work.”

Now Mr. Wayne has the weird look Dick had earlier. “Tim. When I told you about that, I was only warning you that I might not be available as much for a few days. I didn’t mean for you to _hide_.”

Tim tries to think of how to let Mr. Wayne know that he _understands_ , and he doesn’t mind being put aside when there’s important stuff. Kids get in the way. “I didn’t want to waste your time.”

Dick huffs out a breath and squeezes him tighter. “We were looking for you, Timmy. If we didn’t want to be with you, do you think we would have spent all that time searching?”

Jason flops down heavily on the other side of the couch so that Tim’s sandwiched between him and Dick and rolls his eyes. “Let him breathe, idiot. Tim, I am s _o_ never being ‘it’ if I play hide-and-seek with you. Where did you even go?”

Tim blushes uncomfortably – Jason shouldn’t be proud of him, he should be _mad_. Tim messed up. “It was just this room.”

Dick, unphased by the addition of Jason to the couch, sneaks an arm over Tim’s head and drags Jason closer. “It was _practically_ a closet.”

Tim frowns up at him. “It wasn’t a closet. It had a window.”

“Fine. It was a closet with a window.”

“ _No matter what it was_ ,” Mr. Wayne cuts in smoothly, “Tim, you shouldn’t feel you have to hide just because I’m busy. _You’re_ very important to me, too, and I can’t work on anything else if I don’t know you’re safe. If you feel like you need to hide again, come to one of us first. At least tell Alfred where you’re going to be, okay?”

“Okay,” Tim says, even though it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense – having to tell people where he is seemed like it ruins the point of getting out of the way and letting them work without a little kid hanging around and distracting them? But he _likes_ living with the Waynes, and Tim isn’t about to jeopardize his position by disobeying Mr. Wayne. So if Mr. Wayne wants him to tell, he’ll tell.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Now For Something Different: very short chapter from Dick's POV written for a Tumblr prompt, "You can trust me".

Tim is just – there’s so much that Dick doesn’t _get_. He knows that his new little brother likes stuffed animals; he carries around a bear dressed in a little Superman costume all the time. But from the way he looked when Dick took him to the toy aisle and suggested he could get Superbear a friend, you’d think he’d ordered Tim to chop off his own hand.

Alfred’s just a couple aisles down, doing some shopping, but Dick doesn’t think he needs to call in the cavalry yet. Instead, he drops down onto his knees so they’re closer in height. “Timmy? What’s wrong?”

It shouldn’t even be possible for Tim to look any smaller than he usually does, but somehow the kid manages it. “I don’t think – “ His eyes dart in the direction of Alfred before he mumbles, “I don’t need anything.”

The toy selection isn’t _great_ , but there’s one toy elephant sitting by itself that Dick snags off the shelf. “What if _they_ need _you?_ ” He inches it forward through the air a little. Tim doesn’t shrink away any more, which he guesses is a good sign. “Like this guy. What is he going to do without a Timmy to name him and bring him places so he can make friends?”

Dick thinks he sees something like longing in Tim’s eyes before he shakes his head again. “It’s okay,” he whispers. “I’m too old for them. And anyway, what if – Mr. Alfred and Mr. Wayne wouldn’t want to waste money on stuff like that.”

Sometimes, Dick wishes he could have met Tim’s parents, just _once_ , so he could _demand_ to know what they thought they were doing. Cause Jason had started out like this, too, worrying about the cost of things, but at least the Todds hadn’t _had_ that much money to spend on cool stuff like toys. The _Drakes_ could have bought Tim an entire toy store if they wanted, but here Dick is, trying to convince him that a $5 elephant isn’t going to bankrupt one of the richest men in Gotham.

“They won’t mind,” Dick says firmly. And then, because Tim is just so _obvious_ when he doesn’t believe you, he stands up and holds out a hand for Tim’s. “Come on. We can go ask Alfred right now. I _promise_ you he’ll say it’s fine. You can trust me.” 

There’s a long moment while Tim thinks it through, before he tentatively reaches out for Dick’s hand. “Okay.”


	5. Chapter 5

He doesn’t feel good. Tim tries really hard to ignore it, cause maybe if he stays quiet and still it will go away, but his stomach just starts to hurt worse until he finally has to run to the toilet.

Afterwards, his mouth tastes really awful, so he swishes with mouthwash until it’s a little better. Then he sits down on the floor to decide what to do. He wants to wake up Mr. Wayne or Alfred or Dick, but he doesn’t want to _wake them up._ Cause then, what if they were annoyed with Tim for bugging them about something unimportant? Maybe he should just go back to bed – he gets up and starts for the door back into his bedroom.

Except, he still doesn’t feel good. Tim pulls Superbear off the bed and hugs him while he thinks. He really, _really_ wants Mr. Wayne or Alfred or Dick. Maybe he could just… check on them, and then if they’re asleep he’d go away again, but maybe one of them could be awake? That seems like a good idea, so he slips out of his room and makes his way as quietly as possible to Dick’s room to start. That path leads him directly past Jason’s door, though, and there’s light peeking out from under it.

Before he can reconsider, Tim knocks on the door and pushes it open. Jason’s sitting on his bed with headphones on, nodding along to whatever he’s listening to. Tim pauses again, because maybe Jason won’t want to be bothered either, but Tim’s not sure Jason likes him _anyway_ so he can’t make things any worse, right? Besides, his stomach is starting to hurt again. “Jason?”

Jason doesn’t answer right away, so Tim darts forward and taps Jason on the arm. “Mind your own business, Dick,” Jason says, but then he turns his head. Tim shrinks back a little, expecting Jason to get mad at Tim for bugging him, but Jason just pulls off his headphones quickly. “Tim? Jeez, you don’t look so good.”

“I threw up,” Tim whispers, and Jason makes a face before patting the mattress.

“Here, sit down.” Jason sets his music player safely out of the way on the bedside table and drags his trash can next to the bed. “I’ll go get Alfred. Do _not_ throw up on my bed while I’m gone. If you feel like you have to, go to the bathroom or aim for the trash can, got it?”

“Okay.” Tim curls up around Superbear and squeezes his eyes shut. “’m sorry. I didn’t want to bother anyone.”

Jason reaches over and ruffles his hair. “It’s cool. Trust me, no one here’s gonna get mad at you for getting help when you’re sick. I’ll be right back, okay?”

“’kay.” Tim maybe falls asleep a little while he’s waiting, because it doesn’t even feel like a minute before Alfred’s shaking his arm.

“Master Timothy?” Tim opens his eyes and stares up at Alfred blearily. “I understand you’re feeling unwell?”

In response, Tim rolls over and throws up into the trash can, like Jason asked.

Alfred gives a short sigh. “I see.”

 

The next morning finds Tim re-settled into his bed with a small army of stuffed animals keeping him company and Alfred checking on him every half hour. (Most of the toys aren’t his. Dick had dropped them off after getting mad that nobody woke him up to tell him that Tim was sick. Tim remembers hearing Jason tell him _chill, Dickie, it’s not like he was dying_ but he’s not sure how the rest of the conversation went cause he was only kind of awake at the time.)

It’s nicer than getting sick at his parent’s house. They always got irritable cause he was being a bother, or they had someone else keep an eye on him. They didn’t sit around with him and try to make him feel better. Here, Mr. Wayne helps him drink some water when he’s thirsty and even Jason says he hopes Tim feels better soon before he has to go to school.

With Dick and Jason gone to school, Tim spends most of the morning dozing off. At one point, Ace wanders in, jumps onto the bed and lets Tim hug him like he’s one of the stuffed animals before Alfred makes him go back to the floor. Tim figures he must have slept for a while after that, because when he wakes up again, Dick and Jason are both in his room.

“ –old you to come get me if you’re having nightmares.”

“So? I never agreed to that.” Tim cracks an eye open to see Jason sitting on the floor, glaring at Dick over the top of a book. Dick’s sitting cross-legged on a chair he must’ve dragged into Tim’s room from somewhere else. “It’s none of your business. Besides, if I hadn’t been awake, who else was Tim going to come to?”

“I don’t know, any one of us? That’s a super-weak argument, Jay.”

Tim clutches Superbear tighter but does his best not to make any noises cause he doesn’t want to interrupt and make Jason and Dick mad at him. Even if he _does_ wish they’d at least fight outside of his room.

“That kid? I’d bet you five desserts he would’ve panicked and run back to his room at least a few times before actually waking anyone up. Been telling you and B, his asshole parents _did_ something to him. Had to’ve.”

“We won’t know for sure what happened until Tim tells us.”

 “Oh, _please_. It’s not some big mystery. You know that you and the dog are like the only ones he’s cool about touching him, right? Alfie’s doing pretty good but I saw Bruce pick him up once, and it was like he was holding a dead fish.”

“What does that even _mean_ – wait. Timmy?“

Tim clamps a hand over his mouth cause he didn’t _mean_ to make a noise, he really didn’t! It’s just, he still feels bad and Jason and Dick are fighting and he wants them to _stop,_ or at least go away so Tim can be a baby and cry without anyone reminding him that tears aren’t going to solve anything.

Dick scrambles over to the bed really fast, even for him. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling worse? Do you need Alfred? Jay, go get Alfred – ”

“Give him, like, two seconds to answer, Dick, jeez.” Jason comes up on Dick’s right and quietly nudges the conveniently-placed trash can a little closer to the bed, just in case.

Tim shakes his head desperately and presses his hand harder against his mouth, but his eyes are starting to get all wet and blurry so it’s not helping very much.

“Move over, Dickface,” Jason announces before shoving Dick aside and kneeling down so his head is pretty much level with Tim’s. “Hey, Timmy. You know it’s okay to cry here, right?” His voice is softer now, nicer, and Tim blinks at him, at a loss. “Especially right now, cause you’re sick and tired and let’s be honest, _anyone_ would feel like crying if they woke up with Dick in their face like that – “

“Hey!”

“ – so it’s okay if you do. No one’s gonna get mad at you or anything.”

And Tim doesn’t really mean to, but some of the wetness in his eyes spills over, and when he takes his hand away from his mouth, there’s just a really loud whimper all ready to come out. Dick climbs onto the bed with him and starts running a hand up and down Tim’s back, which feels nice but also kind of makes him feel bad? Because. Because now Dick’s going to think he’s just a stupid baby.

“Why don’t you go get Alfred now, Jay?” Dick asks, voice softer, but Tim shakes his head frantically. It’s bad enough _they’re_ here, it would be even _worse_ with Alfred. Besides, what if that made Mr. Wayne come see what was happening? Tim should just, he should stop this _now_.

“I’ll be right back,” Jason says.

“It’s _really_ okay, Tim, I promise,” Dick is saying, but it’s _not_. Tim curls up and pushes the palms of his hands against his eyes, willing them to dry up already. He’s just being stupid and a bother, and his parents would be so _ashamed_ of him –

“Tim?”

“I said A _lfred_ , Jason,” Dick says, sounding exasperated, and Jason answers, _it’s not my fault he was right outside_ , but Tim’s not really listening because, because Mr. Wayne is _here_ , and it’s not _fair,_ it’s not Tim’s _fault_. He doesn’t want to be sick or childish or annoying and he tries, he really, really _tries_ to do better, _all the time_. It was never good enough for his parents, and now they’re gone and he’s making a scene and Mr. Wayne is going to be so disappointed in him like his parents were, and –

Mr. Wayne is talking to him, telling him to breathe. At some point, he took Dick’s place on the bed next to Tim, and it’s hard to focus on what he’s saying but Tim’s already been bad and he doesn’t want to be _worse_ , so he listens and inhales and exhales when Mr. Wayne tells him to.

“Do you feel better now?” Mr. Wayne asks him, and Tim nods cause he’s not sure what else he’s supposed to say. At least he’s not crying anymore. “Do you want to talk about anything?” Mr. Wayne asks next. Tim _definitely_ knows the right answer to that one.

“I’m sorry I made such a scene. I’ll do better next time.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Tim,” Mr. Wayne says, which is very nice of him. He’s always very nice, and it makes Tim feel worse when he’s being bad. “You’re allowed to be upset.”

Tim nods, because that’s the right thing to do when he’s told something.

“Would you like to rest some more?” Mr. Wayne asks, and Tim nods again, this time cause he _is_ tired and he _does_ want to go back to sleep for a while. “Why don’t you do that, and I’ll keep you company?”

“You don’t have to,” Tim says. Mr. Wayne has more important things to do than sit with Tim, even if he is very nice about it.

Mr. Wayne just moves over on the bed to give Tim plenty of room to get comfortable. “I know.”

Tim frowns at that, because it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, but he doesn’t know what to say, either, so he stays quiet. When Mr. Wayne doesn’t seem to mind that Tim doesn’t answer, Tim figures it was the right choice and stays quiet until he falls asleep again.

**Author's Note:**

> If you are interested in my fics and want more, I have an account at syntactition.tumblr.com where I have bits of stories that are currently in the works and other ficlets and stories that haven't made their way to AO3.


End file.
